The traditional full ingredients list can be exceptionally long but it’s actually quite an easy dish to make. Many of the ingredients have a really long shelf life, so it’s well worth a trip to the Chinese supermarket. Some red fermented bean curd has some startling additives, so check the ingredients and look for the least luminously coloured or choose ones that use beetroot/beet juice or other natural colouring.
Ingredients
- 10 dried Chinese mushrooms
- small handful of dried lily buds
- small handful of dried tree ears
- large pinch of dried black moss (optional)
- 3 tablespoons peanut or other nut/seed oil
- 2.5 cm/1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- ½ white cabbage, thinly sliced/shredded
- 4 long dried bean curd sticks (or 8 if using short sticks), soaked in hot water for 1 hour, then drained
- 7-oz (200 g) can straw mushrooms, drained and rinsed
- 5 oz (140 g) can bamboo shoots, drained, rinsed and sliced (larger pieces)
- 2 cakes of fermented red bean curd
- 5¾ oz (160 g) mung bean vermicelli noodles, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes, then drained
- 2 tablespoons vegetarian oyster/stir-fry sauce
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- sliced spring onion/scallion, to garnish
- soy sauce, to serve
How to Make It
- Put the dried Chinese mushrooms in a bowl and the lily buds, tree ears and black moss (if using) in another bowl. Add 250 ml/1 cup plus 1 tablespoon hot water to both bowls and soak for 15 minutes until they are soft. Drain and squeeze out the excess water, reserving the soaking water from the mushrooms.
- Starting with the mushrooms, use a small paring knife to remove the stems, then lay them flat and slice thinly. Next, slice the lily buds lengthways. Trim the tree ears, removing any tough parts, and roughly chop. Drain the black moss. Set aside.
- Put a tablespoon of the oil in a large wok over a medium-high heat, and fry the ginger and garlic for 30–40 seconds. Add the cabbage to the wok and fry for a few minutes until it starts to soften. Tip the contents of the wok onto a plate and return the wok to the hob/stove-top. Add the remaining oil and the mushrooms, fry for a minute or two and then add the bean curd sticks, tree ears, lily buds, straw mushrooms, black moss (if using), bamboo shoots and the reserved mushroom liquid. Add another 200 ml/generous ¾ cup of water and bring to the boil, then reduce to gentle simmer. Add the beancurd cakes and break up using the back of a spoon. Add the remaining ingredients and bring back to a simmer. Cover and leave on a low heat for 20–30 minutes. Add a further 235 ml/1 cup of water as needed. There should be enough broth to just cover everything. Serve garnished with spring onion/scallion and soy sauce.
